On May 28 and 29, Colombian social and student organizations, political parties, and labor unions are partaking in a national strike. The strike is to mobilize support for the popular consultation proposed by the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, to approve his government’s labor reform bill, which has been tabled and boycotted by the opposition parties, the right-wing media, and powerful business groups.
Petro’s bill seeks to improve the situation of Colombian workers and address historic inequality. Among some of the key points of Petro’s reform are:
- Definition of contracts for an indefinite term as a general rule. Other contracts must be justified on a case-by-case basis and for limited periods.
- Progressive reduction of the work week from 48 to 42 hours without affecting salaries, and adherence to the 8 hour work day
- Progressive increase in pay for work on mandatory rest days and holidays.
- Guarantee social security affiliation for digital platform workers, in addition to a guaranteed minimum wage.
- Facilitate the creation of unions and strengthen existing ones.
- Introduce measures that make unjustified dismissals more difficult.
However, the bill was stopped by the majority of the legislature. In view of the blockage, Petro proposed a Popular Consultation so that the Colombian people could define whether they agree with the proposed reforms. However, on May 14, the Senate denied the possibility in a vote with 49 against, cast by the Conservative Party, Democratic Center, and Radical Change, and 47 in favor.
“Against the boycott, popular mobilization!”
Faced with this situation, Petro called on the Colombian people to demonstrate in the streets in favor of a reform that seeks to improve working conditions: “I immediately propose a meeting of the workers’ centers, the peasant coordination, the community action boards, the neighborhood youth committees and the Indigenous movement to take the next step… The people cannot be silenced with a trap. I am ready for whatever the people decide.”
Colombia’s organized sectors responded overwhelmingly to Petro’s call for mobilization. The country’s major labor federations, such as the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) and the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), the major social movement platforms such as Congreso de Los Pueblos (the People’s Congress) and Marcha Patriótica (the Patriotic March), the major peasant organizations, student groups, and cultural collectives are participating in and organizing the nationwide mobilizations and rallies to demand that the Senate allow a popular consultation. On May 28, several avenues in Bogotá, the capital, were blocked by workers and several students who joined the protest.
#movilizacion ✊🏾 Avanza a esta hora en todo el país el Paro Nacional convocado por trabajadores y trabajadoras en favor de la consulta popular y las reformas sociales de gobierno nacional. pic.twitter.com/f7DIoltdpV
— Colombia Informa (@Col_Informa) May 28, 2025
The president of the CUT, Fabio Arias, said about the demonstration: “The mobilizations throughout the country during the 48-hour national strike… result in a favorable balance. People mobilized. In Bogotá, there were demonstrations not only in the center of the city and in Plaza Bolivar, but also in various localities… The peaceful mobilizations are total support to the popular consultation, to the social reforms of change.”
For its part, Alba Movimientos stated in a communiqué in support of the strike and the consultation: “The Consultation seeks to reinforce the support of the Colombian people for the reforms proposed by the government on fundamental issues such as labor legislation. These reforms have encountered permanent obstacles from the opposition sectors in the Congress of the Republic, since they seek to transform the structure of precarious [work] installed by the neoliberal model in the country that sustains the privileges of the oligarchy to the present day.”
In addition, ALBA Movimientos claims: “Although the powerful wish so, and try all kinds of devious mechanisms to avoid it, the Colombian people have responded massively by calling for mobilization actions and debate on the content of the Consultation, and have decided to take to the streets to defend the power that the Constitution guarantees them as primary constituents. The defense of the project of change in Colombia is a priority for the social and popular movements of Our America: there will be no transformation in our continent without a structural change in Colombia that guarantees dignified life, peace, democracy, and sovereignty in the country.”
The Senate’s counterproposal
The Senate, perhaps fearing massive mobilization, decided to take up and modify the labor reform by other means. After a debate that lasted more than 10 hours, the Fourth Commission of the Senate, with 13 votes in favor and 2 against, approved a bill that will now have to be considered by all senators before June 20, the end of the legislature. The Fourth Committee proposes:
- Increase in Sunday and holiday surcharges, which must increase every year until reaching 100%;
- Change of the night shift schedule, which would be established from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am.
- In addition, the possibility of a 42-hour work week, and the possibility of working four days a week and having three days off, was approved.
- The prohibition to sign fixed-term contracts for more than five years; in addition, this type of contract will always be signed in writing.
- Generalize the indefinite-term contract as the base contract for all new hiring, and any worker who has worked on a fixed-term contract for more than five years immediately becomes an indefinite-term worker.
- Grant paid leave to attend emergency or scheduled medical appointments.
However, the Senate did not approve labor contracts for apprentices, a proposal by Petro to strengthen the rights of youth workers. In addition, the Commission would have introduced a long-standing desire of Colombian employers: the hourly contract. The original reform proposed that apprentices of the National Apprenticeship Service (SENA) be linked through labor contracts to the companies where they work, allowing them to earn a minimum wage and enjoy all the guarantees provided by social benefits.
In this regard, trade union leader Fabio Arias said: “We have to criticize the Fourth Commission of the Senate, which, although it approved in its report [several original proposals of the reform], unfortunately, it did not approve the labor nature of apprenticeship contracts. That is to say, it gives a kick to young workers… But the most serious thing is that it introduced a regressive reform that Uribism [(a political tendency close to former President Alvaro Uribe)] always wanted to impose: the hourly contract. We reject that decision and we will go to the Senate so that those regressive measures are eliminated!”
For now, it remains to be seen whether the labor unions, social movements, and political organizations in favor of the social reforms proposed by Petro, who are still fighting, will be able to force the senators to promote a popular consultation. However, the opposition in Colombia, composed of strong economic groups and political parties, is powerful and does not want to see any major changes to its neoliberal labor regime, perfected over several governments.
